1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes dryer and particularly, to an exhausting-type clothes dryer for drying clothes by circulating air inside a drum after sucking external air using a fan and heating with a heater.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a clothes dryer is an apparatus for automatically drying wet clothes after being washed, being installed apart from a washing machine and is classified into a dehumidifying-type and exhausting-type.
The dehumidifying-type is a method for drying clothes by condensing moisture circulating air in the drum, exhausting water generated at this time to the outside of the dryer and supplying air heated to the inside of a drum.
The exhausting-type is a method for drying clothes by guiding external air of the dryer into the drum after sucking and heating the air and exhausting the air into the outside of the dryer again.
FIG. 1 is a view showing the exhausting-type clothes dryer and the conventional clothes dryer will be described as follows.
With reference to FIG. 1, the conventional clothes dryer includes a case 1 having an input opening 1A on the front surface, a door for opening and closing the input opening 1A of the case 1, a drum 3 installed in the case 1 rotatably, for receiving clothes, having a plurality of baffles 3D protruded on the inner circumferential surface, a driving motor 4 and transmission means 5 installed in the case 1, for rotating the drum, an air circulation unit 7 for exhausting external air of the case 1 into the outside of the case 1 after flowing the air into the drum 3 and a heater 6 installed at the inlet side of the suction duct 7A of the above air circulation unit 7, for heating air flown into the drum.
The drum 3 includes a body 3A which rotates being connected to the driving motor 4 and the transmission means 5 and side plates 3B and 3C combined to the body 3A at the both sides of the body 3A movably.
The body 3A has a cylindrical shape and the above pluralities of baffles 3D are formed on the circumferential surface at the inner side of the body 3A as a single body.
The above side plates 3B and 3C are all formed in a circular plate shape and a suction port 3b connected with the suction duct 7A of the air circulation unit 7 is formed on the rear plate 3B and the exhaust port 3c connected with an exhaust duct of the air circulation unit 7 which will be described later is formed on the front plate 3C.
The heater 6 is installed at the inlet side of the suction duct 7A being adjacent or combined to the inlet side and conventionally, electric heater and gas heater are used.
The air circulation unit 7 includes the suction duct 7A for guiding air in the case 1 into the drum 3, the exhaust duct 7B for exhausting the air in the drum 3 to the outside of the case 1 and a fan positioned at the center of the exhaust duct 7B, for flowing air.
The suction duct 7A is installed to guide air heated passing the heater 6 after the air is flown to the inside through the air circulation port 1B of the case 1 into the drum 3. The inlet is positioned or combined to the rear of the heater 6 and the outlet is installed to be connected with the suction port 3B of the drum 3.
The exhaust duct 7B has an inlet installed being connected to the suction port 3C of the drum 3 and the outlet is lengthened-installed to the outside penetrating the rear wall of the case 1.
The fan 7C is combined to a driving shaft of another side of the driving motor 4 which is at another side of the transmission means 5 in the exhaust duct 7B and accordingly, is composed of single inlet centrifugal fans having a suction side and an exhaust side respectively.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 3D designates a clothes input opening of the drum and F designates a filter.
The operation of the conventional clothes dryer with the above composition will be described as follows.
When a power is applied to the driving motor 4, the drum 3 is rotated by the belt 5b and clothes in the drum 3 are mixed. After the external air is heated as the fan 7C rotates, the air is supplied into the drum 3 and dries wet clothes.
Namely, when the fan 7C is operated the external air is sucked into the case 1 and the air is heated passing the heater 6 and flown to the inside of the drum 3 through the suction duct 7A and the suction port 3b. The heated air flown into the drum dries the wet clothes and then is exhausted to the outside of the case 1 through the exhaust port 3c and the exhaust duct 7B.
However, in the conventional clothes dryer, suction is operated by the indirect suction method that the suction force generated according to the operation of the fan 7C is consecutively transmitted from the exhaust duct 7B, drum 3, suction duct 7A and heater 6. Accordingly, in case suction resistance is large, that is, in case a large amount of clothes are dried or much lint of clothes exists at the filter, suction efficiency of the heated air is decreased. Therefore, clothes drying efficiency is decreased or time for drying is increased.
Also, since the air is flown only by the suction force of a fan 7C in the air circulation process in such conventional clothes dryer, load of the driving motor 4 for driving the fan 7C increases, thus to cause often breakdowns.
Therefore, the present invention provides a clothes dryer capable of improving clothes drying performance and reduce time for drying clothes by increasing the amount of air supplied into a drum to solve the above problem.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a clothes dryer including a drum supported in a case rotatably, for drying clothes inserted to the inside of the case, a driving means installed in the case, for rotating the drum, a suction duct connected to a side of the drum, for supplying heated air to the inside of the drum, an exhaust duct connected to the another side of the drum, for exhausting air which dried the clothes in the drum, a first blowing means installed in the suction duct or the exhaust duct, for providing air into the drum and exhausting the air at the same time and a suction increasing means installed in the case, for blowing air into an inlet of the suction duct.
A heater for heating air supplied into the drum is installed at the inlet of the suction duct and the suction increasing means exhausts air to the inlet portion.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the suction increasing means includes a suction increasing duct having an exhaust port positioned at the inlet side of the suction duct and a second blowing means installed in the suction increasing duct, for generating a blowing force.
The first blowing means and the second blowing means generate a blowing force by a power of the driving means. The first blowing means and the second blowing means are composed of a double inlet fan combined to a driving shaft at a side of the driving means as a single body and the double inlet fan is installed positioning the first blowing unit in the exhaust duct and the second blowing unit in the suction increasing duct respectively.
A blocking means for blocking flowing of air between the exhaust duct and suction increasing duct is positioned between the first blowing means and the second blowing means and the first blowing portion is formed larger than the second blowing portion positioned in the suction increasing duct.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the first blowing means and the second blowing means are fans respectively combined to the double driving shafts of the driving means to generate a blowing force by respective driving means.
In accordance with other embodiment of the present invention, the first blowing means and the suction increasing means are respectively combined to the double driving shafts of the driving means and generate a blowing force and the suction increasing means is an axial flow fan installed at the front of the suction duct.
The foregoing and other, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.